With a trend of labor saving in a packing work, an automatic banding packing machine 100 as shown in FIG. 12 has been widely used as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H5(1993)-1123153, for example.
That is, the automatic banding packing machine 100 is, as shown in FIG. 12, provided with a packing machine body 101 installed on a floor face of a plant and the like, for example, and on an upper face of the packing machine body 101, an upper-face table 114 constituting a work base for mounting and packing an object to be packed is formed.
And on the upper-face table 114, a band guide arch 102 substantially in the U-shape is installed upright and a continuous band passage is formed therein, though not shown.
That is, the band guide arch 102 is constituted by a pair of vertical arches 104, 106 arranged separately in parallel and an upper arch 108 connecting upper end portions of the vertical arches 104, 106, and the band passage is formed therein.
On the other hand, on the upper-face table 114, a guide groove 110 in a narrow groove state is formed across the substantially center part, and the guide groove 110 communicates with the band passage formed within the band guide arch 102.
In such automatic banding packing machine 100, by setting the object to be packed within a frame of the band guide arch 102, a band is fed out by a band feeding mechanism, not shown, with a subsequent button operation from a reel 112 around which the band is wound to the band passage of the band arch 102 comprising the vertical arches 104, 106 and the upper arch 108 through the guide groove 110, and a series of packing works including band pulling-back, band fastening, and further welding carried out substantially at the same time as cutting are all automatically performed.
In a delivery plant of articles and the like, cross-like banding is performed on an object to be packed in some cases.
In this case, an automatic banding packing system 200 arranged on a conveying line is used with two units of the automatic banding packing machines 100 with the conventional configuration as shown in FIG. 12.
That is, as shown in FIG. 13, on the upstream side of the automatic banding packing system 200, a first automatic banding packing machine 202 for first banding is arranged, and a first conveying line 204 is connected to the first automatic banding packing machine 202.
The first conveying line 204 is constituted by a conveyor and the like, for example, and comprises a first carry-in apparatus 206 connected to a carry-in side of the first automatic banding packing machine 202 and a first carry-out apparatus 208 connected to a carry-out side of the first automatic banding packing machine 202.
And the first automatic banding packing machine 202 is arranged so that a conveying direction of the first conveying line 204, that is, the conveying direction of the first carry-in apparatus 206 and the first carry-out apparatus 208 crosses an arch direction of an upper arch 210 of the first automatic banding packing machine 202 at a right angle.
On the downstream side of the automatic banding packing system 200, a second automatic banding packing machine 212 for subsequent banding is arranged, and a second conveying line 214 is connected to the second automatic banding packing machine 212.
The second conveying line 214 is constituted by a conveyer and the like, for example, and comprises a second carry-in apparatus 216 connected to a carry-in side of the second automatic banding packing machine 212 and a second carry-out apparatus 218 connected to a carry-out side of the second automatic banding packing machine 212.
And the second automatic banding packing machine 212 is arranged so that the conveying direction of the second conveying line 214, that is, the conveying direction of the second carry-in apparatus 216 and the second carry-out apparatus 218 crosses the arch direction of an upper arch 220 of the second automatic banding packing machine 212 at a right angle.
In this automatic banding packing system 200, as shown in FIG. 13, the conveying direction of the first conveying line 204 and the second conveying line 214 are connected so that they cross each other at a right angle.
Therefore, in the automatic banding packing system 200 constituted as above, a packing work is carried out as follows.
First, an object to be packed 224 is sequentially delivered by the first carry-in apparatus 208 of the first conveying line 204 as shown by an arrow in FIG. 13 and carried into the first automatic banding packing machine 202. And at this first automatic banding packing machine 202, first banding is performed in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the first conveying line 204 (See the object to be packed 224 in the lower right of FIG. 13).
Subsequently, through the first carry-out apparatus 208 of the first conveying line 204, the object to be packed 224 on which the first banding has been performed is carried out from the first automatic banding packing machine 202 and transferred onto the second carry-in apparatus 216 of the second conveying line 214 on the downstream side, located on the downstream side of the first conveying line 204 and arranged at a right angle with the first conveying line 204, through a transfer apparatus such as a traverser, not shown.
And at the first automatic banding packing machine 202, the object to be packed 224 on which the first banding has been performed is conveyed over the second carry-in apparatus 216 as shown by an arrow in FIG. 13 and carried into the second automatic banding packing machine 212 performing the subsequent banding in a cross state in a direction orthogonal to the direction of the first banding.
And at the second automatic banding packing machine 212, banding is performed in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the second carry-in apparatus 216 and as shown in the object to be packed 224 in the upper right of FIG. 13, the cross-state banding is performed on the object to be packed 224.
However, with such conventional automatic banding packing system shown in FIG. 13, it is necessary as mentioned above that the first conveying line 204 and the second conveying line 214 orthogonal to each other are provided, and the first automatic banding packing machine 202 for performing the first banding and the second automatic banding packing machine 212 for performing the subsequent banding are provided on the first conveying line 204 and the second conveying line 214, respectively.
That is, as shown in FIG. 13, when two units of the first automatic banding packing machine 202 and the second automatic banding packing machine 212 are used, the first carry-in apparatus 206 and the first carry-out apparatus 208 of the first conveying line 204 constituted by a conveyer and the like should be arranged in a direction orthogonal to the upper arch 210 for the first automatic banding packing machine 202.
Also for the second automatic banding packing machine 212, the second carry-in apparatus 216 and the second carry-out apparatus 218 of the second conveying line 214 should be arranged in a direction orthogonal to the upper arch 220. Moreover, a transfer apparatus such as a traverser is required between the first conveying line 204 and the second conveying line 214.
As mentioned above, in the case of the cross-state banding on the object to be packed 224 in a mode of FIG. 13, since it is necessary to arrange the first conveying line 204 and the second conveying line 214 in directions orthogonal to each other, a large installation space for installing the first conveying line 204 and the second conveying line 214 is needed, a transfer apparatus such as a traverser is separately required, and apparatus configuration becomes complicated, which are problems.
In order to solve such a problem of space, an automatic banding packing system can be configured, as shown in FIG. 14, by aligning the first conveying line 204 and the second conveying line 214 in a straight direction.
However, in this case, as shown in FIG. 14, the upper arch 220 of a band guide arch 222 of the second automatic banding packing machine 212 performing the subsequent banding is arranged in parallel with the conveying direction of the second conveying line 214.
Thus, even if the object to be packed 224 on which the first banding has been performed is to be conveyed over the second carry-in apparatus 216 and carried into the second automatic banding packing machine 212, a vertical arch part of the band guide arch 222 of the second automatic banding packing machine 212 is on the way and the object to be packed 224 can not be carried into the second automatic banding packing machine 212, and the subsequent banding is impossible.
In order to solve the above problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-290431 (“JP-'431”) proposes an automatic banding packing machine configured so that the band guide arch is capable of tilting by 90° with respect to the packing machine body as shown in FIG. 15.
That is, as shown in FIG. 15, in this automatic banding packing machine 300, a band guide arch 302 of the automatic banding packing machine 300 is configured capable of tilting in a direction of an arrow A-A′ with respect to an upper-face table 306 of a packing machine body 304 and is usually used in an upright state to the upper-face table 306.
That is, the band guide arch 302 is rotatably supported by a rotating shaft 308 arranged at a position somewhat lower than a top face of the upper-face table 306 and by tilting it in a direction of an arrow A with the rotating shaft 308 as a fulcrum through a tilting driving mechanism, not shown, the entire arch is arranged along the upper face of the upper-face table 306.
And banding is performed when the band guide arch 302 is in a standing attitude in the vertical direction as shown by a solid line in FIG. 15, and it can be tilted in an attitude of lying down by 90° as shown by a virtual line as necessary.
Also, JP-'431 proposes configuration of an automatic banding packing system 320 by using one unit of an automatic banding packing machine 300 with the structure as shown in FIG. 15 and one unit of a usual second automatic banding packing machine 310 with the structure as shown in FIG. 12 mentioned above and by aligning a first conveying line 312, a second conveying line 314, and a third conveying line 316 in a straight direction as shown in FIG. 16.
That is, first, the band guide arch 302 of the first automatic banding packing machine 300 is arranged in the lying down state on the upper-face table 306 as shown by the virtual line in FIGS. 15 and 16. In a state where the band guide arch 302 is arranged in the laying down state, an object to be packed 318 having been conveyed in an arrow direction on the first conveying line 312 does not contact the band guide arch 302 or obstruct feeding.
And by detecting a fact that the object to be packed 318 has been carried into the first automatic banding packing machine 300 and has reached onto the upper-face table 306 by detecting the object to be packed 318 with detecting means such as a photoelectric tube, not shown, for example, the band guide arch 302 is rotated in a direction of an arrow A′ by driving means such as a motor or an air cylinder to bring the band guide arch 302 into an upright state.
In a state where the band guide arch 302 is in a usually upright state as above, the first banding is performed in a direction parallel with the conveying direction of the first conveying line 312 (See the object to be packed 318 over the second conveying line 314 in FIG. 16).
Subsequently, at the automatic banding packing machine 300, it is so configured that the object to be packed 318 on which the first banding has been performed is conveyed over the second conveying line 314 and at the second automatic banding packing machine 310, the banding is performed in a direction orthogonal to the second conveying line 314 and the cross-state banding is performed on the object to be packed 318 and the object is carried out by the third conveying line 316 (See the object to be packed 318 on the third conveying line 316 in FIG. 16).
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-315746 (“JP-'746”), as shown in FIG. 17, an automatic banding packing machine 400 with another configuration is proposed, and at this automatic banding packing machine 400, a band guide arch 402 is installed upright with bias to the rear of an upper-face table 404.
And such automatic banding packing machine 400 is proposed in which a center bar 408 capable of tilting is provided at a region below a horizontal arch 406 of the band guide arch 402, and a band pulled back into a packing machine body 410 from the band guide arch 402 is received by the center bar 408 and then, dropped below.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. S61(1986)-127410 (“JP-'410”) discloses an automatic banding packing machine 500 as shown in FIG. 18.
That is, this automatic banding packing machine 500 uses two arches 504, 506 in a packing machine body 502, in which the inner arch 504 of them is installed upright close to the center of the packing machine body 502 so that a band revolves in the arch for packing, while the other outer arch 506 is arranged so as to cross the inner arch 504 at a right angle.
It is so configured that a vertical arm of the outer arch 506 is located at a position not obstructing ingress of an object to be packed 516 into the packing machine body 502, and the vertical arm of the outer arch 506 is moved to a position for packing after the ingress, the band revolves inside, and the band of the outer arch 506 crosses the band of the inner arch 504 vertically so that the object to be packed 516 can be packed.
However, with the automatic banding packing machine 300 of JP-'431, the configuration of the tilting mechanism for tilting the band guide arch 302 is complicated, the apparatus becomes bigger in consideration of durability and safety, and it takes costs, which are problems.
With the automatic banding packing machine 400 of JP-'746, since the band guide arch 402 is installed upright with bias to the rear of the upper-face table 404, a corner portion is enlarged, and band supply runs short when supplying a band into the band guide arch, which is a problem.
Moreover, with the automatic banding packing machine 500 of JP-'410 in which the inner arch 504 and the other outer arch 506 cross each other at a right angle in the cross state, as shown in FIG. 18, configuration in which a projecting mechanism 508 of the inner arch 504 is fitted with a gap portion 510 of the outer arch 506 is required, and moreover, complicated configuration in which a short and small band guide 514 in the projecting mechanism 508 of the inner arch 504 enters in the middle of a band guide 512 of the outer arch 506 and the band guide 512 and the short and small band guide 514 communicate with each other and make the band capable of revolving in the outer arch 506 is needed, which takes costs.
The present invention was made in view of the circumstances and has an object to provide an automatic banding packing machine and its automatic banding packing system in which conveying lines of an object to be packed can be aligned in a straight direction, an installation space can be small, an entire structure can be simplified, and moreover, band supply into a band guide arch can be performed surely and continuous packing work is possible.